טו בן יכבד אב הא דאמרן ועבד אדוניו דכתי' (ירמיהו נב, יב) ובחודש החמישי בעשור לחדש היא שנת תשע עשרה [שנה] למלך נבוכדנאצר מלך בבל בא נבוזראדן רב טבחים עמד לפני מלך בבל בירושלם וישרף את בית ה' ואת בית המלך
15 But just because Hezekiah had fallen sick and was recovered, he sent him letters and a present!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Surely not! ');"><sup>28</sup></span> Indeed 'to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' II Chron. XXXII, 31. ');"><sup>29</sup></span> For R. Johanan said: The day on which Ahaz died consisted of but two hours;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it set ten hours too soon, to allow of no time for the funeral obsequies and eulogies. This was in order to make atonement for his sins, for the disgrace of being deprived of the usual funeral honours expiates ones misdeeds, as stated supra 46b and 47a. ');"><sup>30</sup></span> and when Hezekiah sickened and recovered, the Holy One, blessed be He, restored those ten hours, as it is written, Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XXXVIII, 8. The return of the ten degrees is assumed to mean a prolongation of the day by ten hours, light having healing powers. ');"><sup>31</sup></span> Thereupon he [Merodach-baladan] inquired of them [his courtiers], 'What is this?' They replied, 'Hezekiah has sickened and recovered.' 'There is such a [great] man,' exclaimed he, 'and shall I not send him a greeting! Write thus to him: "Peace to King Hezekiah, peace to the city of Jerusalem, and peace to the great God!"' Now Nebuchadnezzar was Baladan's scribe, but just then he was not present. When he came, he asked them, 'How did ye write?' And they told him, 'We wrote thus and thus.' 'Ye called him the great God,' said he, 'yet ye mentioned him last! Thus,' said he, 'should ye have written: "peace to the great God, peace to the city of Jerusalem, and peace to King Hezekiah."' 'Let the reader of the letter,' said they to him, 'become the messenger.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., let him who gave the advice carry it out. ');"><sup>32</sup></span> So he ran after him;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the messenger, who was already on his way, to recall him and rewrite it. ');"><sup>33</sup></span> but when he had taken four steps, Gabriel came and made him halt. R. Johanan observed: Had not Gabriel come and stopped him, nothing could have saved<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'there would have been no remedy for … ');"><sup>34</sup></span> the enemies of Israel.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A euphemism for the Jews themselves. Had he run further and actually carried out his desire, his title to reward would have been so great as to enable him to wipe out Israel. The scholarly children of the ignorant — a synonym here for the wicked — should thus be informed that the honour paid to them is due to the slight merit of their fathers, as in this case. ');"><sup>35</sup></span> Why was he called [Merodach-]Baladan the son of Baladan?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It being unusual for father and son to bear the same name. ');"><sup>36</sup></span> It is told: Baladan was a king whose face turned into that of a dog,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [In Assyrian-Babylonian Monuments there are to be seen dogs in the company of Merodach, and this is very likely an explanation of this conception of Baladan's dog-face; v. Ginzberg, Legends, VI, 368, 82.] ');"><sup>37</sup></span> so that his son sat upon his throne instead. In his documents he wrote his own name, and the name of his father, King Baladan, [i.e., Merodach-baladan]. This is the meaning of the verse, A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Mal. I, 6. ');"><sup>38</sup></span> Now, 'a son honoureth his father' refers to what has just been said. 'And a servant his master' — as it is written, Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, and stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem, And burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jer. LII, 12f. ');"><sup>39</sup></span>